The bloody head of Pennywise looked around, a massive hole ripped in it through the shotgun hole. This was my plan. Eve and Ethan use my stealth perk, steal his corpse reserves, and ambush her with a massive zombie army.
I'd planned for her (Pennywise would get that pronoun now, since baby spiders, although I wasn't really great at consistent pronoun use since the actor was male, they were IT, and debately they were female) to have minions. I'd assumed it would be humans, like before when she got a bunch of thugs from Chicago, but I guess she was using his kids instead. Time to crush the clown.
A wave of the children she had slain advanced on the clown, the inhuman strength of their infected zombies. With a swish of his body, he transformed into a massive hulking form, the black armor covered form of the Alien.
Pennywise (alien) 10,000 HP, effectively infinite reserves. Pennywise has called upon the most widely known armor horror to gain more combat force.
Fifteen feet tall, head long, mouth dripping acid. They swished their tail as I darted back, and around them sliced in half a dozen of the zombies, their organs visible inside. The top halves fell to the floor, and she laughed.
Then they pulled their lower forms back to themselves, the flesh knitting as threads of fungi knitted them back together. Heading forward once more they lunged at Pennywise, grappling with his massive limbs. He was very strong, but so were Melded zombies. His massive tail was grappled by five of them, another three for each limb, the brutish physics breaking strength of resident evil zombies and their own hate of the one who murdered them letting them overpower him.
They were losing though. They couldn't do any real damage, and acid and powerful blows were slicing apart more each second.
I'd been ready for this. "This is for our first encounter, sewer clown." I had 8 inventory slots free, and they fit one big item.
Metal and plastic and glass formed around me, as a forklift manifested around me, tweaked with sharp steel poles. I gunned it, the smell of engine oil hot around me, and drove forward into Pennywise, feeling a thud shake through my body as the vehicle rammed forward and the metal picked the massive body off the ground "I know your tricks."
Temporary form disruption! 10% stat debuff to mental and physical stats.
Blood splattered out of her body, acid hot, dripping on the glass of the forklift. I'd reinforced this one though. Flurocarbon plastic sheeting, immune to acids. Some of the kids burnt.
As I drove across the rough floor, Ethan took several shots at Pennywise, advancing forward with his shotgun, the sound loud enough to pop my child ears.
"Ow" I said. Pennywise looked pretty torn up. Head lopping off, hanging out loose like a broken black sausage. I glanced back at the scene behind me. Some of the zombie kids had went to free- oh, and kill- those left on the roundabout. Bye bye Sonia. I saw one crack her neck, at my orders.
Level up!
Yay minions.
Pennywise said something. I saw Eve look shocked at the sound. I quickly turned on subtitles from the option menu.
"-not the real one at all. A fake. Let me show you" Pennywise tried to yank herself out of the forklift, but as this was how the Alien Queen in Aliens had been defeated, she just looked like a fool.
She grimaced.
I spoke. "Time for Maturin to add you to his harem. Ready to be his bottom bitch?"
Pennywise stared at me with utter hatred, and then laughed.
I felt the ritual of chud magic inside me act up, as a massive wave of power ran out of him.
Gamer's Mind Collapse-
I saw ghostly images of Pennywise all around. The Creature from the Black Lagoon, a rubber masked sea monster, Nosferatu, an ugly vampire creature. And I felt a sharp pain. My mind was burning like hot fire. My vision blurred, and I slumped to the side, falling out of the forklift to the stone floor.
Pennywise stood before me, suddenly. I could smell the blood, but I couldn't see any wounds.
He grabbed my neck, tensed his hands, and spoke. "You won't taste as good, but you're better off dead."
And he snapped my neck.
You have died! You escaped IT's lair. Why did you go back you idiot? Death penalties imposed.
I was standing in front of the sewer. My head still burnt. I couldn't focus. My neck hurt. I felt dizzy. I had children hands. It was day.
Pennywise was in front of me. He was wearing a baggy silk suit with great big orange buttons. A bright tie, electric-blue, flopped down his front, and on his hands were big white gloves, like the kind Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck always wore.
"You'll float too." And he reached out, hands impossibly long, and snapped my neck again.
You have died! You didn't even make it out of the tutorial. Death penalties imposed.
This time it was worse. I flopped to the ground like a puppet with it's strings cut. I couldn't even resist as Pennywise ran a nail down my back, and bit into my head.
Why wasn't I- I couldn't hear Georgie.
You have died! I- You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!You have died!
I couldn't escape it. Every loop, the pain was just too much. I flopped to the floor, head burning, died, and revived again with just enough energy to die again. I glanced at a status modifier flashing near me.
Complete mental and physical collapse. Your body has been bruised and broken to the point of collapse. 100% status debuff.
Pennywise sometimes spoke, sometimes tore. He ripped off my limbs, ate them in front of me, pounded my head in, ripped out my heart.
Why couldn't I hear Georgie.?
Pennywise pulled me up to a sitting position, and sat me next to him, arm around me.
"I can do this forever, you know. Every time I'll break you down a little more, till you give me Maturin on a plater. A hundred deaths? A thousand. It's like one of your video games. I saw that in your mind. You liked seeing all those deaths. You watched compilations of Lara Croft dying. Now it's you? Isn't that hilarious? Well, time for your next one."
He grabbed my arm, and started to tug. I panicked. I tried to pull away, breathing fast, my body weak, unable to resist. I wanted to die.
Something was missing. I blinked. I tried to trigger my strength perk. It didn't work. The charge hadn't regenerated. This was the same day!
I needed to get out of here. I focused my will and effort, pushing past the feeling of jagged glass in every bit of my body. and triggered my luck perk.
Hint of fate. You are closely connected to the currents of fate. Once a day, you can ask for one common sense fate question to a current situation. The advice will advance your destiny and never lead directly to death.
"Maturin, I need an evac now. Where are you?" He could find where I was based off that. The best use of the luck perk was not advice, but being able to chat to divine beings who controlled fate.
Pennywise smiled. "I heard that message. I can feel where his power is. He shouldn't have invested himself into you. Shape is form, form is reality, and you are his avatar. Now, I will eat you and eat him." His mouth distended, face rolling back, as he lowered his teeth to my arm tattoo. I shivered, my broken and abused muscles.
A flash of light stabbed into his head. I looked up, barely capable of even that movement. Bill, Sharon and Zack stood there, Bill with a nail gun in his hand, Sharon armed with the bear trap Jigsaw had used, still dripping with blood. He pointed it at Pennywise and fired several more psychic nails, slamming Pennywise down.
"G-G-Get off him!" Shouted Bill.
Zack rushed to my side, and pulled me away as Sharon screamed and began smashing the bear trap on Pennywise's face. It seemed to actually hurt them! I looked closer.
Grandmaster level beartrap. 341/500 HP. 50 armor. Special property. Mystical disruption, disrupts the power of divine entities.
That was helpful.
She screamed at Pennywise. "You're not taking my son away again!" As she repeatedly smashed the bear trap into Pennywise's face. Her hand was bleeding, but Pennywise looked worse.
Pennywise has taken true status disrupted form! 50% debuff to mental and physical stats.
"It won't save you" Pennywise said.
I felt another smashing pulse of will, overwhelmingly strong. But this one met something unstoppable. Georgie stretched his will over mine, and took the blast. His latent psychic powers, running in his family protected me as the waves of power rushed over us.
"Stop him. You know the plan!" He said, his voice pained.
"I will."
Ka-tek disrupted! Bond destroyed. Georgie knocked unconscious.
I was ripped out of the fear vision, and was back in the forklift. All the children zombies had collapsed, no doubt caught in horrors of their own, as had Georgie's parents. Eve and Ethan had been knocked out cold, the strength of Pennywise greater than what they could muster.
My mind and body felt empty and dead. I'd lost too much blood, and had my mind battered and broken by Pennywise's power.
He had taken some backlash.
Power exhausted. 30% loss of mental and physical stats. 10% remaining.
Ooh, additive debuff stacking. That was new. And weird. Not quite sure why that was happening. They normally stacked like multipliers.
Jigsaw was still there, leaning against the corner, watching dispassionately. Asshole.
I crawled to the edge of the forklift, pushed open the door, and flopped down.
Pennywise, now in clown form, slowly extricated himself from the forklift, pulling their own battered body off it. They slowly walked towards me, shooting several death looks at Kramer.
"You'll pay for this. Later." He said, as he walked towards me. He grabbed me by my neck, and hefted me up to head height.
"Was this your plan? A grand fisticuffs, a fight, where you would overcome me with brute strength. How's it working for you. Did you do good? Did you do everything you wanted?" He laughed in my face, his spit dripping over me. "I broke them all. I'll eat their souls again and eat you." I nodded.
"I knew it. You're too strong for me. You have too many strengths, and if you really wanted to go all out, you could beat me. Especially at the core of your strength, where countless children died, burning this place out as a place of ear. That's why I never planned to win this by punching you in the face. You've been focused on me, burning your power on me, focusing your attention on me. The gang knew about you ages ago. They could have been here a while back. Where do you think they are?"
He looked to the side, a look of worry flickering through his face as his awareness flickered through his sewer.
I had a few perk points from the level up. I invested them in zombie spit, and spat in Pennywise's face.
The acid seared his face, and he dropped me.
I hadn't mentioned that Eve and Ethan had a radio. The group was waiting for a signal to set off the explosion. I thought Eve would have more psychic resilience. Pssh.
I staggered drunkenly to Eve, her little childlook body collapsed on the ground as she was trapped in whatever fear vision Pennywise had set her up in. Where was the radio.
Wisdom check failed- 4/12
Debuffs. Fuck. I triggered enlightened mind, and my senses momentarily sharpened. Left pocket- ooh, nice dress. She was wearing a little white thing- no, focus.
I reached out and grabbed the radio, pressing the button to broadcast.
"Plague queen is down! Soul vampire is up. Trigger the explosions, Soul Vampire over."
My fading wisdom gave me the sound of a foot dragging. Pennywise was up again, coming for me.
I staggered away, and tripped over my feet, falling over.
"What's the passcode. Trashmouth, Over." Asked Richie over the radio.
"Sewer clown must die, Soul Vampire, over." I replied.
Pennywise lifted a foot up to stamp on mine. I curled up into a ball, trying to avoid him. His foot slammed down onto my foot, and I heard the crack of bones and felt the sharp agony.
"Do it you bastard!" I shouted.
"You don't have to be rude." He said.
I heard a distant rumbling. A host of explosives they had planted went off, demolishing large segments of the sewer. The sewer, as a castle for Pennywise, no longer existed as an effective entity.
My vision started to fade as I curled up on the floor. Pennywise staggered, looking very unsteady.
Sewer broken! 20% debuff in stats.
And collapsed to the ground. He may have immense stats, but 0% of a googleplex is still 0.
John Kramer walked towards me.
"Your will was strong. You deserve this win. I have no love for monsters like It who kill children." He reached down, and turned me on my side.
"So you don't vomit and block your own throat."
"Thanks." I said. An unstoppable impulse came to me. "You left Diana to die. Do you really care about children?"
He shook his head. "You didn't hear the end of those instructions? She would have had her chance. If Gordon failed, she would have had to be brought to him for execution. And I was pretty sure the mother could handle one poisoned doctor in her own home. I'm not a monster." Said the monster.
"And I respect someone who pushes themselves to their limits. I'll be seeing you. I'll make my own way back. I know a few tricks. Nothing like you, but enough. Anyone on the edge does. Be seeing you soon."
He nodded to me, and left.
Fuck.
I levered myself up onto my knees, favouring my non broken foot. I went to Pennywise, still collapsed on the ground. It felt like crawling through treacle, every movement agony and fire and torn ligaments and broken bones, but I made it.
I leaned up on one hand, and slammed my fist into his face. He cracked down onto the stone floor. I smashed my fist repeatedly onto his face.
"Go down you fucker. Give me my level up. I beat you fair and square."
I slammed my fist into his face again and again, reducing it to a bloody pulp. No result.
"Come on now. Explode like the experience filled piñata you are. I want to loot your sewer clown ass."
I drew on my very limited reserves of willpower, and smashed it against his, as the ritual dictated. "I don't fear you any more. Die, you clown."
His eyes opened, glowing orange.
I have reserves of children perk activated. Accelerated regeneration activated.
His hand smacked into me, cracking my bones like glass. I rolled to the floor away from him, as he got up. He started walking to me, and my vision started to grey out as I choked in breath, as my body started to shut down.
"You can't kill me. I am immortal. I am-"
His head cracked as a baseball bat slammed into it. Bill. My host's brother. He and the rest of the loser gang came, and began beating the crap out of Pennywise with baseball bats.
Level up! Quest completed!
Were the last things I saw as I collapsed. I was an NPC. Time for the children PCs to shine.
Main IT plot done. Short wrap up next chapter, and then onto Saw again. With my total exhaustion, this was quite a slog, since lots of characters and interacting things. I'll be doing something simpler next, to pick up speed and get back into regular posting.
And for those that worry extensively about random buffs, Kramer isn't a wizard. He just has a few advantages in the field of traps.
And, Kramer was a total asshole for dropping Diana into the game. She really didn't deserve a drugged up nurse trying to kill her so Jigsaw could get a new apprentice.
Guest. Saw 3 is coming, the story should be back on. No sleep meant I couldn't write more complicated plots, but that is mostly over.
Yinko. Yep, upgraded stat, I used the old name. Fixed. Plus, skill levels are meant to change, he levels them up when he uses them. If I remember correctly, he leveled up stealth while creeping around the Baker's house. Lotsa sneaking vs drunk hillbillies.
Dragonbornthesam. SCP could be pretty fun, and he is pretty read to be a D personal now.
BurnedMiw. Yeah, he dies a lot. I love death scenes in games. One of my favourite things. I try to find all the death animations and scenes.
IunctusCord. Yes, she did get let in the party. And in recent chapters, she just got fear gased by Pennywised. I wonder what he sent her ;)
Nobody. Anime is almighty.
So, next chapter, back to Saw. The Clown is dead, long live the plague queen.